How Do You Entertain Kids In The Evening "after School Hours"?

anika987 · Oct 28, 2016

My 4 year old Lo comes home by 3.30 to 4..
Evenings I sit and play with my kid,be it reading books,crayons,puzzles,paint ,tv time ,walking etc...now it is very cold and winters soon will start..already LO getting bored with the same routine.please do not tell me play dates as there are no kids in the community around 4.All are 8 and above and even when I tried they seem to be more interested with their age group kids.even if I find a play date they live far and tough to travel everyday and disturb people to make my Child play with theirs..how do you entertain kids during winters???My cousin is a working mom
And she brings her child home around 6.30 and she says that is easier but right now we cannot afford that.how do SAHM or working moms who bring home kids way earlier deal with after school hours especially during winters?

vidhyalakshmid · Oct 28, 2016

I used to do variety of activities like teaching some small devotional songs,
teaching tables etc. You can try teaching tables starting from 1 x 1 = 1,
then after a week you can do 2 table. What I did was really helpful to my DD in school now a days, the multiplication tables. You can do many things creatively, sure kids will like.

blindpup10 · Oct 28, 2016

You can involve your child in making treats, there are plenty of simple recipes on TASTY that can be done with children.
See, if your DD has any interest in Carnatic vocal or dance or instruments or sport. Take her to a couple of classes she wants and maybe she might have an interest she might not.. test the waters.
Teach chess or board games

sabarimathi · Oct 28, 2016

If you live in USA, Michael's has $1 crafts for kids. These are beginning stage wooden crafts kits which come with glue, paints and instructions on how to glue the pieces. A very great fun project. Target used to sell 100 pieces puzzles for $1 or $3.

For next level, Michael's has wooden puzzles that are very challenging for the kids. The good part is it doesn't come with instructions, so the kid has to invest time in figuring out how to assemble the pieces.

For the subsequent levels, lowes has free build and grow sessions with dates posted on their website, https://lowesbuildandgrow.com/ This requires hammering and nailing and is extremely engaging. Apart from that, they also sell other build and grow models that you can buy.

jskls · Oct 28, 2016

Let the child play outside or take the child to nearest park for at least an hour a day until the weather gets really cold. Take them to nearest Zoo or look for activities in Public libraries that have story time, toddler time. Try nearest bookstore. They might have some weekly activities for children.

Get creative draw/color rangoli's or do some simple crafts, play I spy games around the house - hide toys and ask the child to find it give clues,you can do activities like connecting dots.

I remember my DD's Montessori Teacher's words " If you want to teach your child Chemistry cook/bake with the child, if you want to teach your child Biology grow plants, if you want to teach problem-solving put puzzles with them;" Ordinary maths can be taught with day to day objects around the house counting fruits, making pasta shell necklace, counting Cheerios in groups 2's 3's 4's etc. With Halloween just around the corner you can count candies, group them too . Add more or take away and you have addition /subtraction

Once a friend mentioned that they would learn about a country by making all the activities like flags, food, dress in paper and talk about the country's culture(including festivals, holidays) for a month and then move on to another country. One of my friend's kid was interested in Flags and so they made a flag book for all the countries.

Try websites like edHelper.com for more ideas. Just restrict few activities per day and being prepared in advance a little bit helps. Give kids their free time too ! (much needed one at this age)

Rihana · Oct 28, 2016

In one particularly long winter, DH mounted the camcorder on a tripod in the family room. We made many movies of regular activities, including one of them watching Tom and Jerry for 1/2 an hour. ; )

Now, we use only mobile phone camera! You can get a mobile phone stand like this one: https://www.amazon.com/Mini-Flexible-Sponge-Octopus-Samsung/dp/B01D4GE34U/ And, even kids can help with making videos. It becomes a fun activity to do 1-3 times a week or more often. With a basic video editing software, they can even be uploaded to YouTube with appropriate privacy settings. I would add a few seconds at the beginning of one child or both describing what is in the video.

Now that could lead to the problem of DH over-sharing the videos with relatives.

The bigger answer is - routine. Make a flexible routine of activities, so there is enough to occupy the mind and time, without having to think too much each day.

jskls · Oct 28, 2016

@Rihana just thought about you

Rihana · Oct 28, 2016

jskls said: ↑

@Rihana just thought about you
Click to expand...

And I just thought about myself a few years with similar aged kids to entertain. The minute DH came home, I used to hand over kids, and step out in my car. Decided where to go only after going past the first 2-3 stop-lights. : ) Mostly went to target to return stuff. : )

Anika, done with digression. : )

KashmirFlower · Oct 28, 2016

basic video editing software,

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@Rihana can you please share what is that video editing software you use. I like to explore that area.

Rihana · Oct 28, 2016

KashmirFlower said: ↑

@Rihana can you please share what is that video editing software you use. I like to explore that area.
Click to expand...

I've used Windows Movie Maker and iMovie a few times. They are good, and more than do the job, but I do get "technical" "how do I" help from my kid. He once bought Filmora for $40 or 50 -- a free trial version is available too. I have seen him use it, and it looked good.